Psalm 109:26

Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 109:26-29. Help me, O Lord my God — But my hope is, that thou, my God, wilt seasonably interpose for my relief, and save me — Out of my troubles; according to thy mercy — That tender mercy which is wont to extend itself to those who have nothing else to depend upon. That they may know that this is thy hand — Being convinced of the eminence, singularity, and strangeness of the work. Let them curse, but bless thou — I can patiently bear their curses, as being causeless, and fully compensated by thy blessing. Or, rather, as the Hebrew, יקללו המה, jekalelu hemma, is literally rendered, They will curse; I expect nothing else from them; ואתה תברךְ, veatta tebareck, but thou wilt bless me, and all those that trust in thee; for, blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. When they arise let them be ashamed — Hebrew, קמו ויבשׁו, kamu vajeboshu, they have arisen, namely, have taken active measures against me; they shall be ashamed — Disappointed of their wicked hopes and designs against me, and covered with their own confusion as with a mantle — For that unexpected destruction which they have brought upon themselves. Observe, reader, if God bless us, we need not care who curseth us; for how can they curse whom God hath not cursed? Nay, whom he hath blessed? Numbers 23:28. Men’s curses are impotent, God’s blessings are omnipotent. And those whom men unjustly curse, may in faith expect and pray for God’s blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for confessing Christ, Christ found him, John 9:35. When men, without cause, say all the ill they can of us, and wish all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift up our hearts to God in this petition: Let them curse, but bless thou.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

109:21-31 The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Help me, O Lord my God ... - Stand by me; interpose.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26, 27. Let my deliverance glorify Thee (compare Ps 59:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Help me, O Lord my God,.... Jehovah the Father is here addressed, who is the God of Christ, as Christ is man; who formed him, supported him, and glorified him; and whom Christ loved, believed in, obeyed and prayed unto; nor did he pray to a God that could not hear, but to one that was able to save him from death: as a divine Person he needed no help, being the mighty God, the most Mighty, the Almighty: but as man he did, being encompassed about with infirmities; and as Mediator help was promised him, he expected it, and he had it, Psalm 89:21.

O save me according to thy mercy; or "kindness"; as before in Psalm 109:21 from sufferings, and out of them; from death and the grave, as he was; or his people by him, who are saved not by works of righteousness, but according to the mercy of God, Titus 3:5.

Geneva Study Bible

Help me, O LORD my God: O {o} save me according to thy mercy:

(o) The more grievously Satan assailed him, the more earnest and instant was he in prayer.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. Cp. Psalm 31:16.

26–31. Repeated prayers for help, ending with calm assurance that the end of suffering is at hand.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - Help me, O Lord my God. Connect with ver. 21. O save me according to thy mercy; i.e. "as thou art wont to show mercy, show mercy now to me." Psalm 109:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The cry for help is renewed in the closing strophe, and the Psalm draws to a close very similarly to Psalm 69 and Psalm 22, with a joyful prospect of the end of the affliction. In Psalm 109:27 the hand of God stands in contrast to accident, the work of men, and his own efforts. All and each one will undeniably perceive, when God at length interposes, that it is His hand which here does that which was impossible in the eyes of men, and that it is His work which has been accomplished in this affliction and in the issue of it. He blesses him whom men curse: they arise without attaining their object, whereas His servant can rejoice in the end of his affliction. The futures in Psalm 109:29 are not now again imprecations, but an expression of believingly confident hope. In correct texts כּמעיל has Mem raphatum. The "many" are the "congregation" (vid., Psalm 22:23). In the case of the marvellous deliverance of this sufferer the congregation or church has the pledge of its own deliverance, and a bright mirror of the loving-kindness of its God. The sum of the praise and thanksgiving follows in Psalm 109:31, where כּי signifies quod, and is therefore allied to the ὅτι recitativum (cf. Psalm 22:25). The three Good Friday Psalms all sum up the comfort that springs from David's affliction for all suffering ones in just such a pithy sentence (Psalm 22:25; Psalm 69:34). Jahve comes forward at the right hand of the poor, contending for him (cf. Psalm 110:5), to save (him) from those who judge (Psalm 37:33), i.e., condemn, his soul. The contrast between this closing thought and Psalm 109:6. is unmistakeable. At the right hand of the tormentor stands Satan as an accuser, at the right hand of the tormented one stands God as his vindicator; he who delivered him over to human judges is condemned, and he who was delivered up is "taken away out of distress and from judgment" (Isaiah 53:8) by the Judge of the judges, in order that, as we now hear in the following Psalm, he may sit at the right hand of the heavenly King. Ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι...ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ! (1 Timothy 3:16).